1 - Tell me 3 things about yourself
aside from being someone who practices yoga.
• I’m in crazy love with my dog (and yours.)
• I love to figure out how to make things.
• I don’t like it when my feet are dirty and can’t even wear
flipflops practically. (I know that’s
not that interesting, but you asked.)
2 – How do you describe the kind of
yoga you practice?
Compassionate
and challenging. But usually in the
opposite order.
3 –When did you begin your life with
yoga?
Most
intensely when i lived in the mountains and realized that snowboarding its
reckless abandon was not my favourite thing; that the abandon of yoga was more
my speed/element. And that my personal
challenge is to put my feet (or my head or heart) on the ground.
4 – How did you come to have yoga as
such a big part of your life?
Necessity
and love. I had this ache in my neck and
this bigger ache in my heart. I didn’t
especially like the yoga at the time and I didn’t know why, but the aches began
to unravel and felt lighter/better with yoga practice. So i kept on.
And then a new ache would come and a new unravelling and then i kept on
keeping on.
5 – How has your yoga practice
changed over time?
It
has changed because i have changed. I’m
nicer now. So my yoga practice is kinder
too- and more patient. And i’ve learned
how to listen to things that are subtle, so my yoga practice feels more tuned
in. This just means that I can sometimes
figure out what is best for me rather than what i think i want to do. Oh!
And playful. Yoga is not serious
business.
6 – Tell me about a great moment
you’ve had with yoga recently.
This
one time, yesterday, i was in savasana.
7 - What do you love about yoga?
The
earth under my feet. It’s such a relief
to find it there! And the soul that I
am. It’s such a relief to find it there!
8 - What are some difficult parts of
having a yoga practice?
Yoga
is not easy:) Every single time my ego
struggles with my soul to get on the mat.
I don’t know if this is typical, but it would always be easier to do
something else.
9 – How has yoga surprised you?
That
it waits for you to come to it. And then
sometimes, as amazing yoga teacher Vanda Scaravelli said: ‘yoga itself will
pull you up by the hair and make you do it.’
It was a bit of a surprise how despite potential inconsistencies in our
practice, it is always there. I didn’t
know it would take on a life of its own in me.
10 – Do you prefer to practice
alone, or in a group setting?
I
like to do both. I’m an introvert through
and through, so alone-practice is a balm for my quiet soul. However, hanging out with people when there
are no words is pretty precious too.
It’s such a nice way to connect, yoga is.
11 - Who has been the most
supportive of your path into yoga?
The
people who come to my classes, who, no matter what, show up and give me another
reason to keep doing it.
And
least supportive are the animals who live in my house who climb all over me
while i practice.
12 - How long have you being
teaching?
For
9 years maybe?
13 - What is the best part about
being a yoga instructor?
• Your uniform being yoga clothing.
• The office being a yoga room, or a meeting room turned into a
yoga room, or backyard turned into a yoga room, (etc...)
• The worst day ever ending in a yoga class and having your day
melt into sweetness when you see people settle into child’s pose or savasana or
their hearts fall open in a backbend.
14 - What sort of teacher would you
describe yourself as?
Attentive. And I hope, more than anything, with ego left
outside.
15 - Yoga has become
mainstream in North America. How does the majority of yoga practiced here
compare with how yoga is practiced in India.
At
first, i wondered if we were kind of frauds over here, doing this ancient
practice without the essence of it, since we aren’t (i’m not, at least)
hindu.
When
I was in india, i searched everywhere for yoga.
The people there just looked at me blankly or wondered why i would do
yoga at all. It seems, for the most part (I know this isn’t universal, just much more
widespread than i had expected), to have fallen
out of their mainstream. I am happy that
we have picked it up and grown it over here now. I feel proud of what we have done to add
juice to the practice and that so many do it so much.
16 - Is yoga for everyone?
Every-one.
17 - If your yoga practice could
talk, how would it say it finds you as its practitioner?
It
would probably say, thank you for your consistency. It might also tell me to smile.
18 – Describe the perfect setting
for a great yoga practice.
Anywhere. Airports especially, planes (where i need it
the most), not outside. I don’t like
outside yoga and the sharp sun. Small,
empty spaces are the best for me. Boring
ones, especially, where there’s no excuse and no distraction. I had to move my yoga room at home to the
basement, which is little and quiet and empty because I am so distractable.
19- What have you learned about
yourself through your yoga practice?
That
I can be patient, though i’m not always, and that I am playful,
though
i often forget, and that I am a soul.
And also that ritual makes my world go ‘round.
20 - At the end of your life, how
might your yoga practice have made a difference for you?
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